To increase the applicability and success of physiological approaches in conservation plans, conservation physiology should be based on ecologically relevant relationships between physiological markers and environmental variation that can only be obtained from wild populations. Given their integrative and multifaceted aspects, markers of oxidative status have recently been considered in conservation physiology, but still need to be validated across environmental conditions and locations. Here, we examined whether inter-annual variation in two oxidative markers, plasma antioxidant capacity and plasma hydroperoxides, followed inter-annual variation in temperature anomalies and associated vegetation changes in four colonies of long-lived greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis) monitored over five consecutive years. We found that the plasma antioxidant capacity of bats decreased while plasma hydroperoxide concentrations increased with increasing temperature anomalies occurring in the two weeks before blood sampling. Moreover, the antioxidant defences of these bats reflected vegetation indices, which themselves reflected the thermal conditions experienced by bats in their foraging habitat. Variation in oxidative markers therefore appears to be due to variation in thermoregulatory costs and to indirect changes in foraging costs. Overall, these results validate the use of markers of oxidative status in conservation physiology to monitor thermal perturbations recently experienced by animals in their natural habitat. However, even though oxidative markers varied in the same direction in all four bat colonies across years, the amplitude of their response differed. If these different physiological responses reflect different performances (e.g. productivity, survival rate) between colonies, this implies that, if necessary, conservation measures may need to be applied at the local scale.

中文翻译：

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寿命长的蝙蝠物种中环境条件与血浆氧化标记之间的时标和菌落依赖性关系

为了提高生理学方法在保护计划中的适用性和成功性，保护生理学应基于生理标志和只能从野生种群获得的环境变化之间的生态相关关系。考虑到它们的综合性和多方面性，最近在保护生理学中考虑了氧化状态的标志物，但仍需要在环境条件和位置之间进行验证。在这里，我们检查了四个长寿命较大的小鼠耳蝙蝠（Myotis myotis）的两个氧化性指标（血浆抗氧化剂能力和血浆氢过氧化物）的年际变化以及随后的温度异常和相关植被变化的年际变化。）连续五年受到监控。我们发现蝙蝠的血浆抗氧化能力下降，而血浆过氧化氢浓度随着采血前两周温度异常的升高而增加。此外，这些蝙蝠的抗氧化防御能力反映了植被指数，而植被指数本身也反映了蝙蝠在觅食栖息地所经历的热条件。因此，氧化标记的变化似乎是由于温度调节成本的变化以及觅食成本的间接变化所致。总体而言，这些结果验证了在保护生理学中使用氧化状态标记物来监测动物在其自然栖息地中最近遭受的热扰动。但是，即使多年以来所有四个蝙蝠菌落的氧化标记都朝着相同的方向变化，他们反应的幅度不同。如果这些不同的生理反应反映了菌落之间的不同表现（例如生产力，存活率），则意味着如果需要的话，可能需要在当地采取保护措施。